


Fields Away

by WyrmLivvy



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon, Canonical Character Death, Character Study, F/M, Friendship, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-20
Updated: 2013-03-20
Packaged: 2017-12-06 01:53:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/730276
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WyrmLivvy/pseuds/WyrmLivvy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Toka first met Izuna, it was by a grainfield. The second time was on the battlefield.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fields Away

**Author's Note:**

> The Toka/Izuna can be seen as friendship, although it's an odd one if it's even one. There are also hints of Hashirama/Madara and a tiny bit of Madara/Mito. Thanks to lave for invaluable beta-ing.

The Senju built a notorious name for themselves as a clan. As a result they had many rivals and enemies so staying in one place for too long was not an option. They were constantly on the move and it was unlikely they would revisit an area without long stretches of time passing.

However, they still scattered small patches of wild grain around suitable land they often visited again by keeping track.

In the early morning, Toka Senju focused on locating these grains as she journeyed to check on a plot that had been planted months before. Her pace slowed as she approached the spot.

As a precaution, she had placed a genjutsu over the plot to make it appear that monkshood grew instead. She thought of having the grains ground into flour she could bake into the warm bread for her cousins Hashirama and Tobirama as an alternative to the soldier rations sure to be used in upcoming battles.  

Instead, she arrived just in time to witness the last of the grains cut and placed into two bags by a boy wielding a small scythe. 

To add insult to injury, he next arched his head before blowing a fireball into the harvested plot. The fire incinerated the roots, fallen grains and anything else useful that might have been salvaged.  

Toka growled, alarmed by the theft but also by the fact the thief knew fire jutsu. In order to have a better look at the thief, she lifted the straw hat that was part of her civilian disguise. The thief appeared to be around her age, not even double digits. Although initially caught off-guard, she now had the knowledge the child thief was a shinobi.  

She had worn overalls and the hat that would be suitable for her intended harvesting task. A small scythe sheathed in its wooden scabbard hung on her belt.  She appeared to be a farmer girl.

She took a breath before breaking into a wail, “Ahh, my father’s field, what have you done?!” She rubbed her eyes.

The boy blinked in surprise and scooted away from her. His face reddened in embarrassment.

 Toka looked at him accusingly with a sad expression. ‘Well,’ she thought, ‘at least he has the sense to feel shame and guilt.’

But then the boy recovered. “It’s not like you own this land or anything,” he huffed. His eyes darted to the sheathed scythe that hung on Toka’s belt.

“I don’t own this land. But my father rented this land. I had intended to harvest what we had planted early in the season.”  Toka countered, lying. She noted that the boy had noticed the scythe she had. Between the two of them there were two small scythes, farming tools that could easily be used as weapons. But his was drawn while hers wasn’t.

Izuna made a face, “Oh, so your father is a peasant farmer working the daimyo’s lands.”

Toka nodded. Mentally she noted that the boy seemed to have taken her lies, even though she had seen him use fire jutsu earlier. Surely a shinobi capable of using jutsu would be able to see underneath the lies?

Izuna smirked. “Then I can explain! This is for a good cause. I’m part of an army that’s going drive the corrupt Daimyo and those lackey Senju he’s hired out. I’m on the good side, the neighboring lord’s.”

Toka made a less cheeky version of the face Izuna made earlier. “Well the Daimyo isn’t perfect but at least his lackeys aren’t thieving weasels that burn fields when they are done robbing them.”

Izuna looked at Toka before he wrinkled his brow in thought, saying, “Who's going to be much better? The current Daimyo who taxes too heavily, or the other lord who’s to be fairer? I mean just look at your overalls, it’s all patchy and ugly. When’s the last time you got a new one? The taxes must be very heavy.” The boy paused for a few seconds before he continued. “Passing shinobi could take crops too, there’s no fence or anything. Lackey Senju will soon arrive,” He made a face. “You better get away while you can.”

Toka tried to hide her offended expression. She knew this was a local daimyo’s land. Said Daimyo had hired the Senju against a neighboring rival that planned to usurp the land but Toka wasn’t going to tell him that. Toka had wanted to stock up on the grain before the battle. 

But how dare he insult the Senju? Her clan members were not lackeys. Her clan was one of the strongest clans around. The insults about her clan hurt more than the disparaging comments on her outfit. She had made the outfit herself. She could admit her needle work wasn’t good. She was better at creating genjutsu than creating clothes. Although, the fact that this boy had broken her genjutsu hurt the fledging pride she had in her genjutsu skills.

The boy noticed her expression but was only partially right in assuming it was because he had mocked her appearance. He tried to apologize by saying, “But you look cute! Despite the outfit. If you just grew your hair longer you would look even cuter.”

Toka ignored his comments. “It’s all just a power struggle.” She said seriously, addressing the other topic at hand that wasn’t about her fashion sense.

She thought he would disagree or make another rude comment, instead he nodded. 

“Yes it is, but that’s why I must stack the odds in my favor.”  He lifted the two bags he held. “This isn’t just for me. It’s for my older brother too.”

Toka noted that one bag appeared fuller than the other. “You seem to have given yourself a larger portion.”

The boy sheathed his scythe. He pointed his index finger at the bulkier bag, expression scandalized, “No! This is his!”

By ‘his’ Toka assumed he meant his older brother, she still made a face that clearly said ‘I don’t believe you.’

Upon the sight of Toka’s disbelief, the boy sputtered for a few seconds before he answered insistently, “He’s older so he needs to eat more…even though he always slips me his rations,” He mumbled that latter part of his reply under his breath. 

Toka nodded slowly. She understood this sentiment as Hashirama had made sure she ate her food even on those days he couldn’t seem to eat himself. She imagined his sadness was a heavy cloak that left him unable move or stomach a meal some days. Such was the grief Toka was conscious of even at a very young age. The mood would disappear and Hashirama would smile like he was fine but she still worried about him. These days, she made sure he ate well.

Izuna noticed the worry on her face and interpreted it as worry for her 'father'. 

 “I don’t know where your father is but it’s possible he was eaten by Senju. You should get away fast before you’re eaten as well because Senju eat babies and kids too.”

 “What?” Toka squeaked trying to turn her anger and indignation into the emotions that fit her disguise of a scared farmer girl, but then she half-snapped, “Who told you that?”

“My older brother told me.”

“He must be a liar then!” Toka couldn’t help herself.

“He isn’t!” The boy glared. He looked more affronted that his older brother was insulted than when she had called him a thieving weasel, “You’re the liar…for a farmer’s daughter I’m surprised you know genjutsu.”

Toka changed her stance, “You aren’t a regular soldier if you can use fire jutsu.”

“So you did see that,” Izuna’s demeanor changed. “So this was yours. You’re the one who placed a genjutsu here.” In a quick movement he stuck his sheathed scythe on a loop by the pouch on his belt.

He held the bags more tightly to his body.  “Well then, I don’t feel bad at all.”

Toka unsheathed her small scythe as she realized that he had taken something from the belt pouch when he had belted his scythe. As she brandished her own scythe, he threw down a smoke pellet with his other hand.

She decided not to give chase amid the smoke. All she heard was his parting words. 

“If you had set it up better I wouldn’t have seen through it so easily. But it wasn’t too bad, for a girl. Until we meet again, farmer-kunoichi.”  

\--

Until we meet again didn’t turn out to be long.

Both of them were surprised to see each other across the battlefield in the afternoon. She found out his name when a voice shouted, “Izuna!”

Toka traced the sound of the voice to a taller boy who she assumed to be the brother Izuna had talked so much about.

She found out the brother’s name when her cousin Hashirama gaped, “Madara!”

The fan symbol on the flags being rallied made things clear. Any lingering doubt or hope dies when she sees Izuna activate his eyes. She witnessed him avoiding a barrage of Tobirama’s ice spears, his darting eyes allowing him to see where to move in order to dodge attacks. A leap in the air was followed by a fireball at the ice spears embed in the earth. Izuna gave her a significant look as if to say ‘Yes, I used this same technique to burn down your field.’

So her thief was a Uchiha, that made sense considering the fire jutsu.

Toka responded with a genjutsu that made Izuna’s mind believe he was encased in ice. He broke out of it with a surge of chakra but afterwards he still shivered at the memory of the cold.  He sneezed and wiped his nose on the long sleeve of his high-collared Uchiha cloak before glaring at Toka.

Toka found herself inside a large oven. Fire burned her skin and through the smoke she could see Izuna standing outside, waving a fan to heighten the flames.  Coughing, she grabbed a piece of wood that was inside the oven and flung it at Izuna. The genjutsu dissipated.

 “Not bad farmer-girl.”

“It is not farmer-girl. It’s Toka.”

“Ok, Toka-chan. I’m Izuna. Now that we’ve introduced ourselves, let’s see how you handle this.”

Izuna swiftly went through the movements of a series of hand seals. Toka did so as well. When Izuna’s last words were spoken, there would be no more words exchanged between them except the names of jutsu.

In the end, the Senju succeeded in defending the daimyo’s land against the neighboring lord’s in that skirmish. They stopped fighting when the flags lowered. Before Toka moved away she learned what had become of the stolen grain when she looked from a distance past the settling chaos of the battlefield.

Izuna handed a large misshapen loaf of partially-burnt bread to an exhausted Madara. Madara’s slump disappeared when he accepted the loaf from Izuna. He acted as if the burnt loaf were a rare delicacy.

At the sight Toka wanted to frown but could not bring herself to.

When she stopped to sit under the shade of a tree with Hashirama, she took out a bag of mushrooms she had carefully foraged for after she had returned from the grainfield. It would have to do to make up for the bread she could have made.

She offered the bag respectfully to Hashirama, who accepted it with thanks and a smile. He opened the bag and instantly recognized the aroma.

“Matsutake mushrooms! How long must have it taken…?

“I looked under some fallen leaves,” she said. It took a couple of hours to find enough but she didn’t want to have him know. She gestured for him to dig in already.

Hashirama ate the mushrooms. With each bite, he relaxed. Between mouthfuls he spoke, “These are really fresh! You should eat some too. Do you think Tobirama would want any?”

“Tobirama swore he would never eat any mushrooms I picked ever again because of the bad mushroom incident.”

Hashirama raised a brow, “The mushroom thing was just that one time.”

“He was ill for days,” Toka recalled.  

“Well he’s missing out now. You’ve gotten much better at foraging, ” Hashirama handed a mushroom to Toka.

Toka accepted the offered mushroom and allowed herself to relax in the shade of the tree. She decided the grain was not such a great loss after all.  

\--    

The next time she sees Izuna isn’t until months.

By then Toka dark hair was shoulder length.

Izuna greeted her by saying, “Looks like you took my advice and grew out your hair for me. But it’s not as beautiful as my brother’s.”

“I did not grow long hair for you, Izuna.” Toka said coldly.

She did not grow her hair out of any attempt to attract him. But rather at the moment it was long enough that she began wearing it in a top knot to make it appear shorter and also for more ease in battle so that hair did not fly in her face. She tied her hair in such a way that a large bang obscured her left eye. She trained her left eye to resist genjutsu daily. To resist Izuna’s techniques yes, but also his clan’s more malicious moves. She did not tell him any of this.

Izuna responded in mock hurt, “You wound me, Toka-chan,” then he teased, “But Uchiha like long hair.”

Hashirama had been near Toka’s side throughout this exchange. He overheard them, regardless of whether it was on purpose or by accident. 

Toka wondered if that meant Uchiha liked having long hair, liked others having long hair, or both.

She thought the entire thing was false, or only the first being true when another year later, on another battlefield, she overheard an exchange.

Madara said, “I see your haircut is less lame now, Hashirama.”

 While Hashirama had replied, “I see you grew out your hair too, Madara.”  Hashirama looked ready to go on his knees and ask for a peaceful resolution, now that Madara was using his first name again.

“Of course Hashirama, my god-complex wouldn’t allow you to excel me in hair growth so easily. Your hair may have grown out but there is still no hope for your clothes.” Madara began in a joking tone but as he neared the end his tone turned to outright mockery.

Hashirama bit back a sigh and questioned his chances at truely regaining Madara's friendship.

Toka wondered if it was an Uchiha thing to mock others' outfits. But she catches the significance of Madara calling Hashirama by his name as she had not known that Madara knew it for she only ever heard angry shouts of ‘Senju!’ from him when the he and Hashirama clashed. They were so loud when they fought that half the battlefield could hear them at any given moment. 

She witnessed no other reactions from Madara towards Hashirama except the usual blows and fire jutsu.

She decided that the long hair thing was probably just Izuna teasing. 

Toka could not have known, that one morning in the future, when Konoha was founded, Madara would barge into Hashirama’s house, ready with a rant about a village policy only to catch the sight of Mito Uzumaki’s long red hair without its pins and decorations, freed.

That Mito would be standing in front of a mirror with her hair fallen to her knees. That she held a hair brush in one hand and a brush in the other, working on creating fresh seal tags. Mito would ask what business Madara had being here while Madara would say he was looking for Hashirama before hesitantly leaving. Mito, suspicious of Madara would watch her mirror closely to make sure Madara would leave. She would see the Sharingan turn on for a fraction of a second before dismissing it as a trick of the light and she would turn back to writing her seals, the event forgotten. But Madara would not forget, because he had used Sharingan to forever store the image of Mito with her hair unbound.

What Toka did suspect was that Izuna fought her in order to capture her movements with Sharingan. This she was right about. 

“My brother says a battle is like a dance,” Izuna said. He looked at Toka’s hair, now bound in a top knot, and made a sound of disappointment before he blinked and activated his Sharingan. He used his Sharingan and copied her movements, mimicked them in an exaggerated feminine way. The mocking was only redeemed because he conveyed the grace and power with which she moved as well.

In her battle with Izuna they make a parody of battle together, exchanging blows like in a choreographed dance, not unlike Madara and Hashirama, who never seemed to injure each other too heavily.

\--

They meet again in a two years.

Izuna says, “Hey, Toka-chan. I haven’t seen you in a while. I thought you must have gotten pregnant or something.”

Toka was shocked. “Pregnant?” In that time she had been training at genjutsu with members of her clan but she had not stopped to consider any possible suitors. She knew that more often than not, kunoichi ended their careers when matches were made and pregnancies arose. That even if they wanted to continue, the pressure and shame inflicted by their clans and society would break them. They heard, ‘you would do better to serve the clan if you raised children’ and ‘soldiers have to be replaced.’

“Have a bird in that cage?” Izuna asked, his eyes flicked to her stomach before returning to her face. “Once the bird is freed from its cage there would be no more fighting on the battlefield for you because you would have to stay home to raise it.” Izuna frowned, “You don’t look pregnant but you also weren’t wearing this armor before…”

His eyes widened when he caught sight of the Senju symbol on one of her plates, “I… was in denial before but I guess it can’t be helped. So you are a member of that clan after all.” 

Toka scowled, “Firstly, I just received the armor. Secondly, I was always Senju.” 

She had just gotten her armor due to its unfortunate previous owner dying. Sometimes armor was hard to get and she had worked hard to prove herself worthy of it. The armor was given with the thought that it would be used often by the receiver. Izuna had asked if she was pregnant, something personal and quite rude considering such an event would have ended her career on the battlefield when she had just proven herself enough to earn the armor with her clan’s emblem. It would make the clan regret giving her the armor if it were not put to use on the battlefield.

“I thought you were a slave girl.” Izuna commented blankly.

 Toka tried to bury the fury she felt at this. As a shinobi, she thought she had killed her anger over this, but Izuna’s comments stung. Usually clans did not bother to raise girls and preferred to raise boys to be soldiers. Because of this, sometimes girls were sold.   

“My name is Toka Senju. And what if I did have a child? What if my husband is raising the child right now? Men can raise the children while the women continue fighting.” She countered, along with a strike at Izuna with her scabbard to follow after the words.

Izuna met the strike with his own scabbard, but underestimated its strength, not nullifying it completely. He winced and nodded.  “I know,” his eyes black eyes seemed to fill with light, “my brother raised me for a while.” Toka noticed Izuna tended to speak of his brother as if he was the sun that nurtured all living things.

“If your kenjutsu is any indication, you are Senju. But tell me: since you are one, if you didn’t have a baby…did you ever eat one?”

Toka choked. She glared at Izuna past their crossed scabbards. Although he tried looking serious, his face was breaking and his black eyes filled with mischief. 

Before Toka could formulate a reply, Izuna’s expression shifted to another face, part regret, and part wistfulness, “What if you started a family? Imagine if I truly had become rivals with you. What’s the point of having a rival who stops being your rival because they had babies? I wouldn’t see you on the battlefield anymore. I’ll just have to test my genjutsu against brother’s techniques instead of against yours.”

 “I did not plan to have children soon. Or a husband.” Toka snapped, annoyed at Izuna’s words. She had hoped to throw him off balance instead he had done it to her.

 “Why not quit the battlefield and start a family?”

“I fight so another child would not have to fight in my place. They would be able to stay with their families longer.”

“I see,” Izuna looked thoughtful, “But you are just buying time. Eventually everyone will have blood on their hands. Since you’re here it means you have chosen to fight.”

“That’s right. I can still be your rival, Izuna Uchiha. In the time I wasn’t getting pregnant but I’ve been working on stronger genjutsu.”

That was all the warning she gave before launching into a series of seals to perform said genjutsu.

\--

At the end of the battle, with both at a stalemate, Izuna admitted, “You have gotten stronger, Toka Senju. But I have gotten stronger too, by training with Madara.” Izuna smiled as if the training was the best part of his day, “I’m sorry. This is a secret, but in the future my power will be so great that you won’t be able to fight me.”

Toka replied, “You are not the only one with secrets.”

\--  

It was three years before Toka saw Izuna again. In that time the tensions between the Uchiha and Senju only grew more strained with the rising amount of deaths and feverish search for development and knowledge of deadlier techniques. 

She was going to joke bitterly and say, “Haven’t seen you in a while. Did you get pregnant or something?”

She wanted to say this as a reference to the days they could joke, before she would abandon such pretenses and fight him with intent.

But the words died before she could bring them into the world when she sees Izuna on the battlefield. His face had lost the baby fat it once had, his face now a serious mask. The wind lashed against Izuna’s ponytail, his longer hair swinging like a pendulum blade.

She catches sight of his eyes, not a regular Sharingan but three dark bars connecting into a center iris with a dark circle with a red pupil. 

The sight feels like a funeral to her and the dread is proven when she sees her clan members engulfed by black flames that do not extinguish even as she uses the strongest water jutsu that Tobirama had taught her. 

She screamed in anguish and anger, and turned to face Izuna. She did not look into his changed eyes with her own unobscured eye.

Her long bang flapped madly in the wind that was heated by the black fire. The burning flesh of her comrades carried by the smoky wind filled her senses.

Izuna turned to her and says apologetically, “I should be able to kill you, kill anyone now, but...” He sighs, “I guess I still feel guilty for stealing your grain. Somehow I feel that I still owe you although we are now fields away in power.” He laughed softly.

Toka tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword and raised the blade. She thought, ‘He felt bad? For the grain? When he just killed four of my clan members?’ She could not understand him. Uchiha were insane.

She told herself she wanted to kill him.

In that battle she failed to, but she survived.

\--

Toka pushed her training to completion. In a year after she had seen the black flames, she finally had her eye ready.

She undid her hair and parted the lengths to the side, exposing the left eye usually covered by her bang. After tying her hair into a simple long ponytail not unlike Izuna’s, she marched into battle intent upon facing him.

In her search for Izuna, she saw a dark patch of forest. Suspicious of its unusual darkness, she closed her right eye and allowed her left to focus. Her left eye’s pupil contracted, restricting light and allowing her to see past illusion. She leaps through the dark trees knowing it would not physically block her. When she gets past the genjutsu she sees Izuna standing in a clearing.

She froze. The many yards between them made her wonder if she really was seeing what she did. But her left eye saw through the distance.  

She had thought to face Izuna’s eyes with her own, but instead she saw that Izuna’s eyes weren’t visible but hidden beneath white bandages.

“Hello, Toka.” Izuna smiled sadly, “It took me a bit to place those footsteps but it looks like you found me pretty quickly this time. Even if my brother was trying to hide me...he used a genjustsu not even five minutes ago,” Izuna paused, surprised that he just said what he did. His mouth quirked into a quizzical expression. He had not expected one of his brother’s genjutsu to be bypassed so easily.

Toka raised her hands, still wanting to fight Izuna, although her hands trembled briefly, “I’ve been training an eye to resist genjutsu, as well as to counter your infernal jutsu.”

“Just for me? Is this to make up for you not growing your hair long because of me? But I think you’re wearing your hair down? I thought I heard it swing.”  He raised his arms as well. “And of course I’d fight you, since you haven’t gone off and started a family yet, rival.” Izuna placed weight on the word rival.

Toka could see that Izuna still expected to fight this battle and the ones beyond. She did not know when he gained the bandages covering his eyes but she suspected he had fought in such a state already if his stance was any indication. 

Toka sensed Madara approach the two of them at top speed. She assumed he had sensed the field that had been disguised by the genjustsu had been disturbed. He arrived at Izuna’s side like a gale and turned to glower at Toka.

Her train of thought that Madara’s eyes looked familiar was derailed when the image of her own death was transferred to her by those eyes. She was caught off-guard due to the intensity of his hatred and killing intent. But she closed her right eye in time to allow her left eye’s pupil to contract enough to snap her out of the genjutsu.

Madara’s hands moved.

Toka recovered and avoided being incinerated by a large inferno. Madara’s attention shifted away from Toka when a real forest started growing beneath them.

Moments later the creator of the forest appeared. Hashirama quickly noted Toka’s change of hairstyle, Izuna’s change of head accessory, and Madara’s change of eye appearance.

With Hashirama using mokuton defensively and Toka resisting genjutsu, they don’t send attacks as much as they deflected attacks. Hashirama spoke, over the sound of falling and burning trees and rocks pounding into the earth, trying to tell Madara to cease hostilities but Madara was deaf to his words. Madara attacked, trying to kill Toka and Hashirama while Izuna fought halfheartedly, meeting the defenses but never using enough strength to get past them and do any serious harm.

Only when Izuna spoke did Madara stop. Toka and Hashirama stopped to listen as well.  

“Enough, brother,” Izuna said. He carefully unwrapped the bandages over his eyes. He then raised it and waved it like a white flag.

Madara looked at Izuna with a pained expression before looking at Hashirama and Toka, daring them to make a comment.

Toka took in a sharp breath of alarm at the Izuna’s closed eyes. His eyelids were indented slightly. A chill settled over her as she thought of the deathly look Madara had sent her. She inferred that if Izuna opened his eyelids, his eyes would not be there. Izuna confirmed this when he spoke. 

 “I wish I could see what Toka’s hair looks likes now. It sounds different but it’s not possible for me to see now.” He shrugged. “Or even how her genjutsu resistant eye works,” he added this as an afterthought, sounding more interested in Toka’s hair.

Hashirama’s body betrayed his confusion as he leaned forward slightly, not quite believing what he was hearing. Still, he saw that Izuna had stopped forming seals. Madara was even momentarily stunned as Hashirama was.

Toka softened her stance as Hashirama did, the both of them trying to convey an end for the fight.

Madara made a movement to attack again but Izuna lunged forward in an approximation of where Madara’s hand lied. Izuna’s hand only managed to brush Madara’s but at the contact Madara stilled. Izuna took this chance to clench his hand tightly around Madara’s. In this way, Izuna held Madara’s hand, and kept him from attacking at the same time.

“It’s time we leave so medicine and fresh bandages can be applied.” Izuna said this nonchalantly, without malice.

Madara’s jaw twitched but he did not try to move his hand away, instead he squeezed back. “Yes,” Madara replied, voice soft. With his free hand, he took the bandages from Izuna and discarded it.

Toka watched as Madara and Izuna departed with their hands still held together. She saw the Uchiha fan symbol on the back of Izuna’s outfit become visible and then hidden again with the movement of his long ponytail as he receded from her sight.

Toka did not know how long Izuna had been living without eyes or how long he would continue to.

\--

Izuna died before Konoha was founded. As a Senju, Toka was barred from Izuna’s funeral.

The next time she sees Madara, he is standing at the center of a newly founded village that needed a leader. He is alongside Hashirama and other candidates for leadership. She knew it was apparent from the other clans that make up the village as well as the murmurs of the gathered crowd that it could only be either Hashirama or Madara. When she caught sight of Madara’s eyes, she sees Izuna’s black eyes looking back at her. The moment was accidental and only a fraction of a second, although it felt like an eternity to Toka. Madara returned to glaring at Hashirama. 

Toka closed her eyes to resist the urge to cry so she did not see when Madara discreetly brushed away tears that fell unbidden from the eyes in his sockets.     

**Author's Note:**

> The timeline is questionable and so is the characterization(particularly Izuna's) due to the new chapters jossing my WIPs. Basically any headcanons of Izuna as the more playful, peaceable brother next to Madara is destroyed.


End file.
